Some by Fire (30 page)

I held my hands up to show contrition. ‘For which I apologise,’ I told him. ‘It was all a bit sensitive and we wanted to keep it out of the papers. Tell you what. It’s been a good week, first the burglars, then this. How about a full team night out, Friday?’

There was a mumble of approval. ‘Chinky and the social club,’ someone suggested.

‘I reckon the firm should pay,’ Nigel said. ‘There ought to be at least some commendations in this for you and Jeff.’

‘Oh, I haven’t room on my wall for another commendation,’ I told him.

‘And I’d like to say,’ Jeff began, ‘that any commendation given to me is only because I’m the figurehead. It will really belong to all of you.’

‘Golly, how kind,’ they muttered.

The phone in my office was ringing. I rose to my feet but the DC grabbed his own phone and said, ‘I’ll pick it up, Charlie.’ He tapped in the appropriate number and listened. ‘Heckley CID,’ he said. His eyes widened and he smiled. ‘Yes, he’s here. I’ll put him on.’ He covered the mouthpiece and hissed: ‘This
is it! The Chief Constable’s secretary wants a word with you. Commendations here we come!’

I took the phone from him, composed myself and said: ‘DI Priest,’ in my most authoritative voice.

‘Hello, Inspector Priest,’ a husky female replied. ‘This is Miss Yates, secretary to the Chief Constable.’

‘Hello, Rita,’ I boomed into the mouthpiece. ‘Long time no see.’ Rita goes through chief constables like Eurostar goes through the Chunnel. ‘How can I help you?’ The others were hanging on my words.

‘I’m just preparing the agenda for the next Serious Crime Operations Group meeting,’ she told me, ‘and I’ve noticed that at the last one, item eighteen, you offered to look into unsolved crimes going back thirty years. Shall I put you down for a presentation at the next meeting?’

I took a deep breath, puffed my cheeks and exhaled with a
pooffff
, like a beachball deflating. ‘Er, no,’ I stated.

‘What would you like me to put?’

‘Nothing. Can’t you just forget it?’

‘No, Inspector. I’m afraid that’s not possible.’

‘Well, just say…say I’m working on it. Nothing to report at this stage.’

‘I’ll have to put it on the agenda, and you can tell the meeting yourself. Will that be all right?’

‘If you say so.’ She rang off and I handed the phone across the desk, my displeasure apparent for
all to see. They stared, blank-faced, waiting for a pronouncement. It broke my heart to disappoint them all. ‘That’s it, lads,’ I said. ‘Tea break’s over. Back up on your heads.’

This story is fiction and all the characters in it are imaginary. I have used some real places and institutions to give a sense of location and distance, but any implied criticism of these is without foundation. Throughout the writing of this book I was received, as always, with courtesy and cooperation wherever I made my enquiries.

S
TUART
P
AWSON
had a career as a mining engineer, followed by a spell working for the probation service, before he became a full-time writer. He lives in Fairburn, Yorkshire and, when not hunched over the word processor, likes nothing more than tramping across the moors, which often feature in his stories. He is a member of the Murder Squad and the Crime Writers’ Association.

www.stuartpawson.com

I
N THE
DI C
HARLIE
P
RIEST SERIES

The Picasso Scam

The Mushroom Man

The Judas Sheep

Last Reminder

Deadly Friends

Some by Fire

Chill Factor

Laughing Boy

Limestone Cowboy

Over the Edge

Shooting Elvis

Grief Encounters

A Very Private Murder

If you enjoyed
Some by Fire,
read on to find out
about the other books in the
Charlie Priest series …

To discover more great crime novels and to place an
order visit our website at
www.allisonandbusby.com
or call us on
020 7580 1080

Detective Inspector Charlie Priest believes in doing things by the book. It’s just that, in the heat of the chase, he sometimes turns over two pages at once. His unorthodox ways have held him at inspector level for a record-breaking length of time; however DI Priest does get results. When Charlie suspects a now-respected businessman, with a background of extortion and GBH, of involvement in international art fraud, he’s taking on an enemy with friends in high places. But Charlie can be persistent to the point of recklessness – and, once he’s realised that there’s a link to the lethal doctored heroin that’s striking down the local kids, no threat will stop him …

There’s nothing Detective Inspector Charlie Priest hates more than a case involving children. When Georgina, the eight-year-old daughter of local businessman Miles Dewhurst, goes missing, Charlie and his colleagues soon start to fear the worst. Charlie’s suspicions are focused on Dewhurst and, in a race against time to find Georgina, Charlie’s life is further complicated when it seems a killer is targeting clergymen. Three have died suddenly, and a picture of a Destroying Angel mushroom has been left beside the body of the latest victim. But why would a serial killer focus on men of the cloth?

Detective Inspector Charlie Priest is officially on sick leave, but this brief break from work comes to an abrupt end when Mrs Marina Norris’s chauffeur is found dead from unnatural causes – namely a blast to the head from a Kalashnikov. Meanwhile, big-time drug smugglers on the Hull–Rotterdam run demand his attention. His contact, Kevin, is a lowly cog in the great smuggling wheel, and easily hoodwinked into believing that Charlie’s line of business is similar to his own. But the real villains are not such pushovers, and when Charlie uncovers a connection with his previous enquiry he realises that he’s on very dangerous territory indeed.

When Dr Clive Jordan’s dazzling career is brought to an abrupt end by a bullet, his colleagues are devastated – especially the female ones. If the doctor hadn’t been as discreet as an undertaker’s cough, Detective Inspector Charlie Priest would suspect a jealous husband. But it’s not going to be that simple. Charlie knows for certain there’s a killer on the loose – and almost certainly a rapist as well. The chances of bagging either of them seem slim, but Charlie’s a lot tougher and smarter than his affable manner indicates, and that’s bad news for the villains on his patch.

Super-salesman Tony Silkstone wreaks a terrible revenge when he comes home to discover his wife dead, apparently strangled by her lover after a sex game that went wrong. But Detective Inspector Charlie Priest is the investigating officer, and he cannot be convinced that this murder is as cut and dried as it seems. When a hitman comes to town, Charlie is more interested in identifying the proposed target than in arresting the hitman, a strategy that produces surprising results. And when links are found between Mrs Silkstone’s killer and the murder of a young girl in another part of the country, Charlie follows the trail only to discover that he is suddenly faced with difficult questions about his friends and his feelings towards them.

Laura Heeley was just an average mother of two, but at the age of thirty-eight her life was swiftly taken from her, stabbed in the back on the way home from bingo. Colinette Jones was a popular, attractive and intelligent student, but she has been strangled, her body dumped on the roadside. What is the connection between the two victims? Detective Inspector Charlie Priest must solve the mystery, though with no clear motive and police movements restricted by foot-and-mouth disease this proves an increasingly frustrating task. As the number of victims mounts, it becomes clear to Priest that this could be his biggest challenge yet …

DI Charlie Priest is wise-cracking his way through his daily routine, but it’s not long before the clouds roll in. Someone has been tampering with food tins in the local supermarket. A national scare ensues and if Charlie doesn’t act fast he could be dealing with a murder inquiry. As if that wasn’t enough, he learns that an organised dog-fighting ring has set up operations nearby. Charlie’s relationship with Rosie has reached a rocky patch too. When Charlie gets to the bottom of her change of heart he is somewhat concerned, and offers his help. But, as he’s about to learn, sometimes helping only makes things worse …

Joe Crozier, a businessman with a decidedly shady past, is enjoying an evening of being wined and dined. But after refusing to sell his nightclub, the Painted Pony, he is bound and gagged, and takes a silent and deadly dip into the nearby river. Meanwhile, DI Charlie Priest is called to the murder scene of the famous mountaineer Tony Krabbe, who has been attacked with his own ice axe. Charlie’s love-life then takes a turn for the worse. He is desperate to seek out the truth in the two murder cases, but can love and violent death ever make comfortable bedfellows … or will Charlie finally be pushed over the edge?

Is selling your employer’s confidential records enough to warrant a particularly sadistic murder? Acting DCI Charlie Priest asks himself when handed the file on a bizarre murder. Appearances deceive, and it transpires that the victim may have been chosen simply because of his physical appearance. And when another body turns up, Charlie begins to wonder if he himself is the catalyst that motivates the killer. Before long he is embroiled in much more than a hunt for a murderer – now it is personal.

The monthly superintendents’ meetings never hold much excitement for DI Charlie Priest, but this time he is in for a surprise. DCS Colin Swainby is to resign, quietly and without fuss, because certain allegations have been made against him. Allegations involving a woman, and it’s not his wife. When MP Edward Gross finds himself similarly compromised, he also opts for a quiet exit, but his has a far more permanent outcome. Priest knows there must be a connection – he has to prove it before the body count starts escalating.

DI Charlie Priest is on gardening leave – the neighbours have complained about his weeds – when the call comes. Ghislaine Curzon, girlfriend of one of the royal princes, is in Heckley to open the Curzon Centre, a new shopping mall and conference facility. But as she reveals the commemorative plaque it looks like someone has got to it first, defacing it with a single obscene word in foot-high red letters. The visiting dignitaries are aghast and the chief constable insists on Charlie investigating the case. When the mayor of Heckley and driving force behind the construction of the controversial new mall is found murdered, killed by a single shot to the head, the investigation takes a deadly turn. It’s going to take more than standard police procedure to crack this case.